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When a marketing campaign can inspire customers to change attitudes, capture nostalgia or get the audience really thinking – then we think they’re pretty successful! Here are just five companies that have had a particular impact on us and have effectively marketed to their targeted audience. Dove Campaign for Real Beauty How did a soap…

If you’re planning on hiring a marketing agency but are not familiar with some of the buzzwords, we’re here to help. While there are many marketers and social media “experts” out there, there are also many who may try and bluff their way into a position. If who you’re hiring to do your marketing isn’t…

If you’re stuck in a grim, grey office all day, the thought of working from home can sound like a walk in the park. But the reality is that it requires a lot of self-motivation. Before you’ve tried it, you may have this image of having the ultimate flexibility working in pyjamas (which is sometimes…

When it comes to working on the web there can be a plethora of distractions that pull you away from your task at hand. You could be innocently scrolling through Facebook and end up sucked into a world of status updates not realising that an hour has passed. According to Stat Counter and Computerworld, Google…

We live in a world where the smartphone is constantly by our side. While for many it serves as a distraction, the phone itself also has the power to increase our productivity. Working on the go has increased in popularity with no longer the reliance on having a laptop by your side. Here are 11…

They say that success is often 90% perspiration and 10% inspiration and we think that includes motivation too. Here at BDifferent, we understand that sometimes you might need a push in the right direction to come up with new ideas. Below are 14 talks and conversations that will hopefully motivate (or at least inspire) you…

I recently decided I wanted to improve my Irish language skills. Being a former Gaelscoil pupil I have a great understanding of the language but my grammar is not what it used to be because I haven’t used it in 10 years. I took to Twitter to find a podcast to try improve with but instead it was recommended that I try the Duolingo app.

Duolingo is a free language education app which was selected by Apple as iPhone App of the Year in 2013 and by Google as Best of the Best for Android in 2013 and 2014. With over 80 million users, Duolingo has become the most popular way to learn languages online in only 2 years. Duolingo offers the choice of learning 22 different languages, 12 of which are for English speakers wishing to learn a new language.

I set up the app to learn Irish. It is easy to do. Beginners start at basic 1 but there is also a placement option for more advanced users. I used the placement option and got to skip the lessons and went straight to the first gate test. The content is very engaging with a wide variety of methods used to teach words, aurally, written English to Irish, written Irish to English, pictures , matching of English words to Irish words. Points are awarded for completing lessons, I also like the daily reminders to use the app. Repetition is key and I plan on completing the whole course over the next few weeks.

Growing up with 24 hour access to information and technology is a recent enough revelation in Ireland and many tech savvy parents are still unsure what boundaries should be in place for their children when it comes to having a life online. The internet is a great resource with a world of knowledge waiting to be discovered but with tablets, phones and gaming consoles in children’s bedrooms across the country the home, once a place of safety is no longer off limits from bullies.

For Parents it is important to know what each device you give your child is capable of. Know the applications they are using, and who they are communicating with. For younger children and teens make sure they know you will be checking the device often. Continuous learning on the adults part is key, Talk to your child about new technology and apps, what they are used for and what fun stuff you can do with them and get the child to demonstrate the app for you so you can gain an understanding of how they use it.

Important rules:

1. Never give out your personal details online, these include your real name, address, age, school or phone number.

2. Set your profiles to private or that only your friends can see them.

3. Don’t accept friend requests from people you do not know offline. Even if you have mutual friends.

4. Never check-in “at home” or announce when you are going on holidays.

5. Never give out your password to any one online.

6. Remember nothing is private, people can and will screenshot posts even if you delete them.

And most importantly always remember that everyone likes to put their best selves online. Everything you see on Facebook/Instagram/Snapchat may not really represent how someone else lives or feels. Facebook envy and pressure to fit in is a real thing.

I rejoined the gym for a bit of pre-season training before my season of coastal rowing starts again for 2015. The biggest single thing I have noticed since returning to the gym is that people actually know what they are doing. Gym-goers are using the machines correctly, TRX, CrossFit are the buzzwords and ladies lifting heavy weights is the norm.

Gone are with the days of being prescribed a fitness plan of running on the treadmill for 40 minutes and you were classified as “super fit” or cycling on a bike for 30 minutes and thinking you were great, flexing a few muscles and that’s it, you put in a fantastic workout.

We are witnessing an era of people wanting to ‘learn’ more about exercise, but even more so about nutrition. Hello, I am one of them! I am continually searching for ‘clean eating recipes’ on Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter as well as looking for new ways to train.

Over the past year or so we have experienced an explosion of health and fitness professionals coming into an already crowded market place, there’s a hell of an amount of noise. Some are doing great while others have run away with their egos due to gaining traction and as a result are not connecting with their potential customers.

There’s one guy “The Body Coach” that I would like to focus on from a marketing perspective, he’s doing everything right. From customer acquisition, engagement and retention, he is one to watch on how to successfully market your business to an international audience, regardless of what area of business you are in.

The guy behind the “The Body Coach” is Joe Wicks and he is an online nutrition coach from the UK. He has been featured by The Daily Mail, Men’s Fitness, The Times.. and the whole heep of other media outlets and has recently signed a book deal. He is rocking it!

When I first came across Joe I initially checked his website for further information. This is normally where a lot of businesses fall down, they might be active social media and present themselves very well but but their website can be terrible and that’s where I lose my interest. I always say to people, your website is your shop window, make sure it looks well!

Joe’s website is one of the best I have seen in the industry to date. It’s clean, well presented with nice high-res images and it’s easy to navigate. The Body Coach also encourages you to sign-up for a “free” get lean guide. This is a perfect way to capture email addresses for future marketing. In fact when you sign up to his newsletter you get 14 days of exclusive fat loss advice (call-to-action).

But how did he gain attention of his clients, and the media? The answer is “followers”. The Body Coach UK has 184K followers on Instagram, 25K followers on Facebook, 30.7K on Twitter & 137K views on YouTube. Now that’s impressive! However, Joe did not always have this level of following, in fact a year ago Joe had a very small presence online – but he stuck with it. Day in, day out, he was posting his #leanin15 meals to an empty Instagram account but as time passed people started to follow and to tell their friends and it all took off organically from there.

#leanin15

This is a wonderful marketing campaign. Joe devised his own hashtag that has become his main marketing campaign that is so captivating! Via his Instagram account he pushes out #Leanin15 video meals and shows client results from his 90 Day Fat Loss Plan, it is incredibly engaging and would motivate you into signing up. The videos of his food preparation he prepares are interesting, funny and to the point. See example of his videos here. Through Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter Joe asks participants for a testimonial once they have finished and a before & after picture. From a marketing point of view this is very important because how can you get someone to buy into a program without seeing what you can achieve? The same applies to everything you market, your communication should tell a story.

90 Day SSS Plan

We all know that sticking to a “diet” or lifestyle change is very hard, that’s why Joe has broken it up into 3 different cycles as described on his website:

Cycle 1: HIIT ATTACK – SHIFT YOUR FAT AND IGNITE A NEW FITNESS LEVEL

Cycle 2: SHAPE YOUR PHYSIQUE / INCREASE MUSCLE MASS

Cycle 3: SUSTAIN THE RESULTS EMBRACE A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE

Positioning: By breaking the cycles up into three sections makes the offering of the plan more attractive to potential clients. After the 90 days of the plan you “graduate” from the plan, by using the word “graduate” gives a clear goal for the client to reach that will give them a great sense of achievement. Everyone wants to graduate! Everyone, I am sure prior to joining the 90 SSS Plan wants to see their before and after pictures being pushed out in social media. This is very clever marketing from The Body Coach.

Communication

Joe Wicks is a very busy man, he’s just received a book publishing deal, constantly being interview and even appeared on Sunday Brunch on Channel Four show last Sunday to cook one of his now famous #Leanin15 meals. However, he always makes time for his clients and potential clients via social media. I contacted Joe a number of weeks ago to ask for his permission to feature them on the blog and to ask if I could use some of his images etc, within a few minutes I received a reply saying yes! (see image). This was not the first time I communicated with him either, many times I have engaged with him via Instagram and Facebook and this is from a guy that has hundreds and thousands of followers worldwide. This is where many “well-known” fitness and nutrition ‘experts’ falls down. You have to keep up communicating to encourage and attract new customers and to retain existing ones.

There is no doubt that Joe is a fantastic communicator, I read his client reviews all the time and many of them say “I contacted Joe as I was finding the plan hard and he got back to be and gave me a few words of encouragement to keep going”. A lot of clients say, “if it wasn’t for Joe and his words of advice I would have given up a long time ago”. This proves to me that what he advertises on his website is fact “we believe support is one of the reasons people achieve such amazing results!”

The cost of the plan is £147, you can either pay up-front or via three direct debit payments.

In summery, Joe Wicks AKA The Body Coach is doing a fantastic job marketing his business to not only to an audience in the UK but to the rest of the world, everyone from all types of business can learn something from the way he attracts, engages and retains customers. He has his marketing positioning correct by having a really attractive website, good graphics on his social media profiles, clear and consistent messaging via his social media profiles and his use of video for his #Leanin15 meals are killing it (in a great way). I would love to know what his Facebook stats look like in terms of reach and engagement, no doubt they are impressive!

From all of us here in B*Different, Joe Wicks, congratulations you are ‘different’ and your marketing is super impressive- keep up the good work!

We are currently looking to hire two interns to join our team! Let me tell you a little about us first. B*Different is almost two years old and in that two years we have gone from strength to strength, attracting all types of businesses in Ireland and further afield. We work with clients in a wide range of industries from pharmaceutical, sports, luxury confectionery, cosmetic surgery, app companies to even celebrities!

B*Different provides both digital and traditional marketing services from outdoor media campaigns, radio, TV planning, to digital campaigns such as social media management, online campaign management and so on…

Since the start of our company, interns have graduated from B*Different and went on to hold mid-senior level marketing roles in organisations. B*Different will give you the experience to excel in marketing. It’s the perfect learning opportunity.

So what type of person are we looking for?

Self-motivated with plenty of passion and the willingness to learn

Must have a full command of the English language

Design skills (Photoshop, InDesgin etc)

Frontend web design skills (HTML & CSS)

The ability to work on your own initiative

Come up with ideas and share them with the team

Enjoys having fun and a bit of banter

What will you get?

You will learn about the industry that will give you excellent experience

You will get exposure to big projects and work with a diverse range of clients

You will attend events that is relevant to the industry so you continuously learn

You’ll assist with the management of social media accounts

You will learn how to plan marketing campaigns and execute them

This role is a hands-on learning role that will give you the skills and expertise in the marketing industry.

I received a call from a very large organisation asking could they meet me to discuss doing some business. Like all potential clients, I invited them to meet me in my office to discuss their needs. The Marketing Manager from the organization called to meet the team and I, and I took her through our company presentation deck along with showcasing work that we had previously completed for other clients. I could tell she was happy with my no-bullshit approach and what she was hearing was fact but I really felt we were a little too small for her, with them being a massive group.

The week after coming over to meet me she called me again to see if she could bring her Head of Brand for the company over to meet me, I of course accepted. We ran through the deck again and spoke of my experience, but he was harder to read and really felt that I did not have a hope in landing this contract, not because we were not able to fulfil it, but because large companies tend to steer to larger agencies. But I did think big because I knew we could do it.

However, I do recall an important moment in our conversation and that was when they asked me, do I think there is any difference between the UK and Irish market. Well, I went off on a tangent and explained the differences in terms of marketing. For example, I spoke about the UK market are receptive to negative marketing, as in being told what to do, whereas the Irish market reacts well to positive marketing, I also give a few examples to explain my points and they loved it. Bare in mind though, what I was saying was the truth and based upon facts an experiences having marketed to both markets.

When they returned back to the UK we had a follow-up call and they explained the process that they were talking to a lot of agenciesand they would be in-touch in due-course within the next week. Next week came and went and I thought oh well, at least I tried my best and I had been completely honest in my endeavors to secure the contract.

The following week I received a phone call on my way up to Dublin from having been at home in Mayo for the weekend. I did not even look at the number and just answered. It was the Marketing Manager from the said organization telling me that I was successful in winning the contract and that they wanted to do business with us. How I did not crash the car that day, I will never know. She said the main thing that swag me winning the contract was my sheer honestly and also the UK/Irish thing. I was delighted!

We had a follow up conversation in a hotel near the airport to finalise details and that was that. Since then we have worked so hard with fulfilling the contract and meeting their every need, but most of all we have a fantastic working relationship.

In December we have our first marketing rollout for this client and we will revile who it is then. The moral of the story is think big and big things will happen!

A huge thank you to all the people that has worked on this project with me thus far, the late night and early mornings have paid off!